Darling, Everything's on Fire
by Bizi-Myers
Summary: 26 year old Jodie Clemmens had started out the day hoping to return with food for her brother and sister, now what she hadn't counted on was finding a half-frozen, unconscious man washed up against the shore of the lake. /AU where Luke survives the incident on the lake, rated T for language and future suggestive themes/
_If there was one defining thing that one might recall about the August of that year, it would definitely be the weather. The humidity was as about as thick as the fog might be during chillier, rainy weather, and the sun burnt down upon the hundreds of tin-roofed cars that currently littered the highway, obnoxiously shining through the windows to blind the unfortunate drivers who were stranded without window blockers or sunglasses. Another unfortunate mishap was the fact that none of these cars appeared to be moving, and the reason for that was pretty much the usual reason a car would not be moving down the road; it was a traffic jam._

 _Nobody knew what for sure had caused it, save for those who were lucky enough to be at the front of all the previous chaos, but one thing for sure was that by now the road was lined with rows and rows of impatient and unhappy people, most who were travelling home from work or heading off on vacation for the weekend._

 _One such group of people, who were sitting in an beat up old Chevy, were the latter._

 _Unluckily for them, they were in the middle of the entire jam, with no means of getting ahead or escaping, their poor excuse for a car parked in between a large SUV with a boat attached to the back, and a motorbike with smoke coming out from the exhaust. Some suitcases were packed away in the trunk, though at least one or two remained in the backseat beside a young dark-haired woman, who had by now unbuckled her seatbelt and had propped her feet up onto the cushions, all her attention currently focused on some social media app on her cellphone. One finger from one hand played with a loose strand of hair from her brown braid, while one from the other hand scrolled the webpage she had brought up, her expression being that of a bored, and unamused individual._

 _In the front passenger seat sat a young man, who bore a similar appearance to the woman in the backseat, only his hair was shaved into a buzzcut. He sat upright in his seat, glancing out the window every now and then out of boredom._

 _The car was pretty much quiet, save for the hum of the air conditioning, and the radio station which was playing the same generic pop songs that you'd expect to hear at that time. Aside from the dark-haired man sat the driver of the vehicle, another young woman, only she didn't seem to resemble the others in the least bit. Her hair was somewhat short, red, wavy, and untameable, and her skin was much paler than their's. A few freckles dotted her cheeks, which had a visible sheen of sweat draped across them. At this current moment, she was leaned against the window, her head resting against the hot glass while her fist was mashed against one of her damp, pasty cheeks. She looked tired, and weary, but then again, who would be in a good mood being stuck in traffic during unbearable weather like this? It could be worse, she supposed. At least she wasn't stuck in a van full of screaming kids like the car in the other lane was._

 _Then again, being stuck in a car with your ungrateful siblings wasn't exactly fun either._

 _She was alerted when the motorcycle in front of them began to rev it's engine, and she quickly shot up and gripped the steering, eager with the sudden hope that they finally might be moving at last. But alas, it had just been a false alarm. The motorcycle, and it's rider, had only moved an inch, and were now still again._

 _Frustrated, the young woman gave an irritated groan and fell against the steering wheel in defeat, her nose smashing against the horn and setting it off briefly. The girl in the backseat glanced up from her phone briefly, rolling her eyes at the other woman's antics._

 _"Oh look, Jodie's having another meltdown. Bet that's not the first time that's happened today." she said dryly before glancing back down at her phone._

 _Jodie pushed herself up from the steering wheel and gripped it tightly again, fighting back the urge to shoot another glare towards her sister, and instead reached over to adjust the air conditioning._

 _"What would you expect, Clarissa? This traffic hasn't gotten anywhere in the past hour, with this heat I'm shocked we haven't all had a meltdown yet." The young man in the passenger side pointed out. He glanced around momentarily and then blindly shoved his hand back, grappling around aimlessly and in the process, snatched at his twin's leg. She yelped and scooched back, bringing her legs closer to her stomach._

 _"Keep your hands to yourself, Caleb. You don't have to make all of us miserable." she grumbled back at him._

 _"I'm not trying to make anyone miserable, I am just wanting to open the cooler." Caleb pulled his hand back and fell back against his seat. "I need a soda, geez my mouth feels dryer than the Gobe Desert right now."_

 _"Well it's your fault for snacking on the pretzels."_

 _"I eat when I'm antsy, okay? I thought you'd realized that by now."_

 _But Clarissa didn't have anything to say to that right away. She only gave him a look of disinterest and went back to typing something on her phonescreen._

 _"Yeah, maybe I have realized it. But eating the whole bag is just unforgiveable." she mumbled._

 _Her brother scowled, and purposefully reached back and yanked on her braid, causing a loud squeal to rattle the car. Jodie remained in the front seat in silence, massaging her temples as she continued staring at the road ahead. By now, she was used to the antics of her little brother and sister, given that bickering is all they had been doing the entire time they had been stranded here. The heat was getting to everyone's heads, and the sooner they got moving the better. She just kept staring, in hopes that maybe the stream of traffic would start flowing, but it continued to remain unmoving._

 _The song that had previously been playing ended abruptly, cutting instead to what sounded to be a news bulletin what with the sudden, important sounding music. A man began to speak, but Jodie, although alerted, did not have a chance to hear what he had to say, as her brother reached over and switched the radio off. She glanced over and gave him a look._

 _"Caleb, come on, that could have been important." she scolded him._

 _"Really, because I get the feeling it was just more politics and shit." Caleb leaned back in his seat, dropping his arms in a nonchalant manner. "And honestly, it's sad, because I'd rather listen to Nicki Minaj over that crap and I don't even like her music."_

 _"Not all news is politics you know. And I, unlike you, like to stay informed as to what's going on with our country." Jodie huffed at him. "Now can I please turn the radio back on? You always have your phone for entertainment if things like news reports really bother you."_

 _"Well..." The young man pondered his sister's request for a moment, then a sly look washed over his face as he looked towards her. Annoyance came over Jodie's face, but she waited for him to finish his thought process. Despite the time it took him, he finally responded._

 _"Maybe if you'd be kind enough to locate the cooler and get me a soda, I might consider turning the radio back on." he said coyly._

 _"Why you-" Jodie cut herself off, too tempted to string out a slew of nasty words at the young man, but she just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. The back of her head was beginning to ache, she was willing to bet it was from the stress of the current events._

 _"Alright fine, I'll get you your damn soda but if you go back on this, I'm tying you to the top of the car." she snapped to Caleb, jabbing a finger at him as a means that she would not go back on this threat. He did not seem too phased by this however and simply gave her an innocent smile, to which she scowled at before opening the car door and stepping out._

 _As it slammed shut, Caleb leaned against the center console and called out after her._

 _"Thanks sissy, love you!" he called out mockingly._

 _Jodie chose not to reply to this. She only glanced back briefly, groaned slightly, then resumed heading back to the trunk where she had unwisely packed the cooler earlier. The sun was unrelenting in stabbing at her eyes and exposed areas of skin, but she bore with it and made it to the back of the car, where she promptly dug out the keys from within the deep pockets of her cargo shorts and pressed a button to open the trunk._

 _It took more than one attempt, but soon enough the trunk popped open, revealing about several blue and brown suitcases shoved to the side, while two duffel bags sat wedged in between a red cooler. Jodie pushed aside the little overnight bag propped on top of it and opened the lid, dismayed to find much of the ice had melted and most of the drinks were now floating in half-melted mush. Sighing, she picked up her brother's requested soda and also grabbed a water just in case her sister might be thirsty. She closed the lid, put the overnight bag back, shut the trunk, then walked back to the other side of the car._

 _She looked in to see both her siblings were already pre-occupied with another pointless conversation, and tapped on the window to gain their attention. Caleb was the first to notice, and he rolled down his car window, immediately reaching out to snatch the soda from his big sister. Without as much as a thank you, he opened it and immediately began to guzzle it down as if he hadn't drank anything in days. Jodie shook her head at him, but lowered the water bottle through the window towards her sister._

 _"You thirsty?" she asked._

 _Clarissa eyed the bottle for a moment before shaking her head._

 _"Not for water."_

 _"Well too bad, you need to stay hydrated so that's what you're getting." Jodie tossed the water bottle past Caleb's head and it landed on Clarissa's lap, causing her to emit a small gasp. Before she could protest, Jodie had already backed away from the window and was pulling her cellphone out from her pocket. She opted to not go back in the car right now, she'd been cramped in there for long enough and she needed to stretch her legs, she hadn't realized how much of a dire need she'd had to walk around until stepping out to get the drinks._

 _Not that the weather was perfect for walking around or anything, but she could have sworn her butt had grown to that old leather seat by now. Besides, she wanted to see if she could a look on what was going on. First off, however, she checked her phone from any messages or missed calls, before swiping to her contacts and selecting the contact labelled "Dad." She walked around to the front of the car, pressing the phone against her ear and glaring ahead, but all she could see was rows of piled up traffic. She sighed, then stopped walking, leaning against the car as the ringing on the phone cut off to voice mail._

 _"Hi, this is Peter, if you're hearing this it means I'm not available right now so just leave a message and I'll get back to you later."_

 _Beep._

 _Jodie once again pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing again, then proceeded to speak._

 _"Hey Dad, it's me. We're uh...we're still stuck in traffic, not sure what's causing it but hopefully it'll be cleared up soon." she said. "Don't wait for us if we're not back by dinner, I know your barbeque tends to spoil quick so just save what you can for us, and I promise we'll be home as soon as we can, okay? Love you, bye."_

 _She lowered the phone away from her ear and turned it off, shoving it back into her pocket. She wiped her sweaty palms off on the much dryer fabric of her shorts and proceeded to shield her eyes from the blaring sun, taking a few steps forward in another attempt to get a view of the chaos that was much further ahead. Of course, that took walking up a little further than the front of her car, and much more squinting. It was hard to even see much with the beam of light attempting to blind her._

 _The old man on the motorbike in front of their Chevy looked over at Jodie as she walked up near him. He released the handlebars and leaned back in his seat._

 _"Can you see what's goin' on up there?" he asked her._

 _Jodie glanced over at the man, shrugging with a shake of her head._

 _"Not really to be honest." she responded._

 _"Shit well, this is just great. At this rate I'm not gonna be getting home to my wife anytime soon." The man huffed and leaned forward, crossing his tanned arms against the handlebars. "She's not gonna let me hear the end of it, I know it."_

 _"I'm sure she'll understand sir, traffic jams happen all the time." Jodie attempted to reassure the man. She looked forward again and strained her neck, but still, she could barely make out anything except more cars. She glanced back at the man, then back at the car. Neither Caleb or Clarissa, from what she could tell, didn't seem to be very concerned she had left the car. Typical._

 _She looked back at the man again, who by now had pulled out a silver flask from a pouch on his belt and was now drinking from it. He noticed her stare and stopped, holding the flask out to her._

 _"Want any?" he offered._

 _Well, the offer was certainly tempting. But Jodie had sworn off any drinking alcoholic beverages after a bad experience at a high school party, and despite the fluster of annoyances today was causing her, she hesitantly smiled and quickly shook her head again._

 _"Uh, no thanks. I'm good." she replied as politely as she could muster._

 _The man just shrugged and resumed his drinking. Jodie decided it might be a good idea to leave the gentleman to his own devices and decided to move further up the road to see if she could get a better look. She didn't wanna go too far from the car, but she still wanted to see if the situation was any closer to being resolved. And from back here, she couldn't tell crap._

 _So she padded her way up the quiet highway, past other cars. From brief glances she could tell everyone on this road was just as impatient and tired as her siblings, and wanted nothing more than to get driving again. It also seemed like a lot of them had stepped out of their own cars as well to get a better look for themselves. Part of her wondered where a lot of them could be off to, but that wasn't her concern right now, that was just a random habit._

 _After passing nearly ten cars, she could finally make out the faint sight of some ambulances up ahead. So it had more than likely been a crash, that's what she'd suspected this whole time. That was a leading cause of a lot of traffic jams, but even then, if it was a car crash, shouldn't they have cleared the area by now? Just how bad had it been?_

 _Part of her wanted to investigate further, but she knew it probably wasn't her place to snoop. Maybe now that she had some idea of what was going on, she could estimate how much longer it would take. If it was a crash, then they wouldn't be here much longer, and if that was the case, she decided it would be best to head back to the car._

 _After about a couple of minutes, she turned on her heel and started to walk back past the rows of cars. She passed the man on the motorbike again, who by now had put away his flask, but had not seemed to drink enough to where he'd be tipsy. He watched her as she walked by._

 _"Hey! You see anything this time?" he asked._

 _Jodie stopped. She turned towards the man and bent both her eyebrows as she shrugged with uncertainty._

 _"Just some ambulances, really. From what I could gather it was probably a car crash." she told him. "I doubt we should be here much longer."_

 _"Well thank God for that. I'm about to melt out here." The man sighed and leaned back in his seat once more, rubbing his eyes. Jodie chuckled at his exasperation._

 _"I think we all are, mister." she agreed._

 _She started to head back to the car once more, and as she approached it, could see that Caleb was stepping out. So they had noticed, well it was nice to know they cared after all. She started to call out to him, to tell him what she'd seen, and that it probably wouldn't be much longer, but as she opened her mouth, another sound replaced her voice as it stretched wildly throughout the air._

 _A scream. And it wasn't hers._

 _In shock, Jodie whirled around as Caleb began to run up next to her, just in time to see a fleeing woman in the distance. She still seemed to be screaming loudly, and in turn, more screams joined hers as the curious people who had wandered out of their cars began to scramble back into their vehicles in a panic._

 _"What the hell is going on?" Caleb wondered out loud as he stopped next to his sister. Before she could respond the two of them were alerted to another loud scream that seemed to come right next to them, and as they looked over, were alarmed to find the man on the motorbike being assaulted by another man in torn-up, bloodstained clothes. Jodie gasped and darted over to assist the attackee, her brother close on her heels. The two of them both grabbed onto the attacker's shoulders and attempted to pry him off, but by now the other man was already bleeding too much and had now fallen to the ground after his attacker had released him._

 _Both siblings fell back as they let go of the man, who in turn staggered around to face them. Appalled looks came over their faces as what they thought was a panicked, injured man looked to be falling apart even worse than they'd thought. At first, there had seemed to be no explanation for why he'd attacked the biker in the first place, but he didn't even seem to be remorseful of his actions. He was completely rotten, parts of his skin only seemed to be thinly hanging on, his teeth and gums completely exposed._

 _"What...the fuck!?" Caleb gasped out loud, grabbing onto his sister._

 _Without any warning, the man, or what was thought to be a man, lunged forward towards both the young adults. Both of them dove out of the way, sending the rotted man staggering towards the railing of the highway. Both Jodie and Caleb exchanged looks before running back to the car, as by now, many of the cars seemed to driving off every which way, even onto the next road. From a far up viewpoint, this whole place seemed to be an unending vision of chaos, it looked like it was pulled straight from a George A. Romero film. You'd think in any scenario, one would be prepared for an event like this, but no one on this highway looked to be._

 _Especially the trio in the car. For this time being, this trio was just scared and panicked out of their minds. For now, any previous plans that anyone had had for this day, was nothing but a mere dream._

 _Reality had turned sour for the world that day._

 _And aside from the awful heat, this event was what would be the most definable about the August of that year._

* * *

A chilly breeze wafted through the open cracks of the walls, seeping their way through the fabric wires of the blanket that Jodie currently slept under. She shifted uncomfortably and woke with a start, shooting upwards and crying out. Despite the cold weather, she was sweating. She shuddered, lifted a trembling hand to her forehead, and brushed away the sweat, inhaling several, sharp deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

It had been so long since that August. Yet the events of that day did not seem to want to leave her mind. It all just seemed like it had occurred yesterday, when in reality, it had been more than over two and a half years now. She couldn't believe it had been that long, when in reality, it just seemed like it was all a continuous bad dream with an unending loop. One could only wish that was what it had been, but unfortunately that was not the case. You'd think with all the things that Jodie had seen in the past, the things that she'd had to experience, that an event like that wouldn't even phase her.

But it had.

Now fully awake, Jodie was certain she would not be getting back to sleep. In this day and time, sleep was impossible what with having to look over your shoulder every second. Whatever, she'd gotten enough rest anyways. Besides, she was certain it was close to morning by now, and it was probably her turn to take watch.

So, as quietly as she could, she pulled back the wiry blanket that had previously been covering her and crawled off of the pile of hay she'd been previously laying on. She placed both palms on the chilly wood and lifted herself up from the floor, trekking her way over to another hay bale where a brown bomber jacket resided, a rifle also resting against it. She scooped it up and threw it on over the plaid shirt she was already wearing, then reached down to grab the rifle.

Once she made sure she was properly armed for the duty of guarding, she tip-toed towards the ladder and began to climb down it. In the process, she was briefly halted as a soft, grunting sound wafted across the loft, and she looked over in the dark to see a bundled shape shifting uneasily. A face appeared, looking upwards towards where the red-haired woman was still positioned on the ladder. Tired, grey eyes blinked, and a woman's voice called out.

"Jodie?"

Jodie sighed, descending back onto the loft and padding over to where her sister was laying. She knelt down, placing her hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Hey sweetie." she whispered. "Just go back to sleep, it's okay."

The half-awake Clarissa blinked again, then yawned, and turned back over the best she could muster. Jodie rubbed her shoulder gently before standing back up again and resumed heading down the ladder. Her feet hit the ground and she walked to the entrance of the old barn in which she and her siblings had been residing in for at least eight months now. It wasn't the most secure location, but it's secluded location seemed to be a bit of a safety factor on it's own. Only a few of those _**things**_ ever wandered around here, it was a rare occasion when any came around. The ones that did show up with very quickly be met with a bullet to the head, or a large rock, anything that did damage, really.

This was what normal was now for the Clemmens family. Hunting, scavenging, and killing.

Jodie pulled back the latch holding the doors intact and slightly opened one of them, slipping out as quick as possible before shutting the heavy door behind her, receiving a nice, stinging gust of wind against her freckled face. It had been cold in the barn, but heck if it wasn't even colder out here. This made her glad she'd put on her coat before exiting, she'd be darned if she stepped out without some protection from this barbaric weather.

The click of the door alerted the previously-half-asleep shape positioned against a rotting bench, which jumped immediately and pointed it's gun towards where Jodie was standing. She rolled her eyes and reached out tentatively, lowering the gun halfway to reveal a startled Caleb behind it.

"Relax, Mr. Trigger-happy, it's only me." she said to him.

His tense shoulders relaxed and he dropped the gun to his side.

"Damn it Jo." he scoffed, plopping back onto the bench. "A little warning next time?"

"What kind of warning can I give to a sleeping man? You're supposed to be paying attention, if one of them lurkers had shown up you'd be a sitting duck." Jodie shifted the rifle off her back and gathered it in her arms. She looked at her brother, noticing his tired form made her almost regret the bluntness of her words. Biting her lip, she sat her rifle down and sympathetically grabbed her brother's arm.

"Let me take over now, will you? You've been out here for two nights in a row, you look worn out."

Caleb gave a side-glance towards his older sister, releasing a heavy sigh.

"I'm fine." he muttered.

"No, you're not, you look like you're gonna pass out." Jodie huffed, scolding him like a mother would their child, which, in this case, seemed to be the relationship of these siblings when they weren't butting heads. "Now I'm not taking no for an answer, you get your ass inside and rest. You need sleep just about as much as me and Clarissa do."

"I-" The young man grabbed a fistful of his hair and grumbled, muttering some incoherent under his breath, then looked back towards Jodie.

"You're stubborn, you know that?"

Jodie shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. But so are you. We're both Clemmens after all."

With that statement being said, Caleb sighed, got up from his position on the bench, and pulled back the outside latch of the barn. He grasped onto the the wooden handle as soon as it was unhinged, and pulled back the door. He walked in, without as much as another word, and Jodie took over his position on the bench, having retrieved her rifle from the ground. She sat there for a good while, glancing up at the sky, which was still faintly dark, but a twinge of light could be seen attempting to overtake it. If she guessed, she figured it was probably around 7 AM, but she couldn't be for sure. Either way, it was a quiet morning. No birds, no rabbits, no sounds except for that of the wind.

One lone bird stood perched on a nearby tree, chirping and flapping it's wings in ectasy. Jodie watched it momentarily, allowing herself to become distracted. _That little creature didn't know how lucky it was,_ she thought to herself. What she wouldn't give to be a tiny bird with that, with the ability to fly, to find food more easily. It would surely be a nice reprieve from the burden-filled lifestyle she led now. Part of her had to wonder how it had gotten to this, but it was too early in the morning for that. She had other things to be concerned about.

She was pulled from her distractions as the bird gave a frightened chirp and fluttered away, the reason for that becoming apparent as a low growl came out from amongst the trees. Now attentive, and alarmed, Jodie gripped her rifle tightly in her hands and lifted it, aiming it towards the thicket of forestry where, just as she suspected, a rotting form staggered out. The balding, long hair and torn up dress made Jodie guess that this disgusting creature had more than likely been a regular woman once. Early on when this shit had first been going down, Jodie had always felt a pang of sadness anytime one of these things came into her viewpoint. Just the very thought that this had been a regular person at one time.

But the things she had gone through over the recent years had hardened and changed her mind. And mornings like today, she felt no sympathy, and absolutely no remorse, as she squeezed her finger upon the trigger, and then released the bullet straight into the limping creature's forehead.

It fell to the ground with a thud. The area went silent once more.

Yes, today was going to be just another typical day.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 _ **Heya guys, Bizi here! Normally I wouldn't wanna do this kind of thing, but considering this is the first chapter I feel like it's only appropriate. I just wanted to give a little background and a more in-depth look to the plot of this fanfic, just so I can go ahead and clear a few things up. I have been an avid fan of Telltale's game adaptation of The Walking Dead for awhile now, and both seasons, in my opinion, have been excellently made so far. What I wasn't happy with, was how so many of the new characters introduced in the second season seemed to be wasted. Especially Luke. He was my favorite and I was very upset when he bit it, both me and my sister were mutual on that. Neither of us were happy and ended up coming up with a headcanon together on a theory of Luke never having frozen or drowning in the lake, and that he ended up washing up on a unfrozen part and was found by someone. That's basically how this fanfic came to be. I can't guarantee if any of the other canon character will show up, but Luke will definitely be in this and I apologize in advance if he seems OOC, I have a tricky time writing characters who aren't my own. For now I hope you enjoy this little introductory chapter to the other main characters, and please leave some feedback! No promises on when I'll have the next chapter out, but we shall see.**_


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